The Branded Bandit: Meet an F.B.I. Agent in Charge of Nicknaming Bank Robbers

If you rob two or more banks in Los Angeles, you get a nickname. If you use a specific weapon, you might wind up the AK-47 Bandit or the Gasoline Bandit. Maybe you sport a particular outfit like the Baseball Bandit, the Gone Plaid Bandit, or the Prospector Bandit. Or perhaps your age is a defining characteristic, like the Prep School Bandit or the Grandma Bandit. If you rob banks in a certain location, they might name you the Central Coast Bandit, or the Valley Bandit, or, this being L.A., the 710 [Freeway] Lady Bandit.

Officials in Los Angeles and its neighboring counties name these robbers because there are too many to keep track of otherwise. At present, more than 80 serial bank robbers roam free in what the F.B.I. calls the Southern California territory. This includes the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Riverside. Los Angeles County has been a hotbed of such activity throughout its history. While the more than 200 bank robberies there in 2013 might seem alarming, it is a miniscule figure compared to the more than 2,600 committed in 1992.

The F.B.I. first started to officially name serial robbers in the Southern California territory in the 1980s, around the time Los Angeles earned its own dubious nickname, “The Bank Robbery Capital of the World.” Today, the task falls to Special Agent Steve May, bank-robbery coordinator for the agency’s Southern California territory. A tall, blond-haired, blued-eyed man, if he were to rob a bank he might be called the All-American Bandit or the Clydesdale Bandit.

As frivolous as it all might seem, the task of naming these criminals can be essential to an investigation. “I'm a database guy,” says May. Every robber is named and logged into a list that May then distributes to local and state law enforcement. He believes the dissemination of such information is the best way to solve a crime. Boiling a robber down to his or her most unique attribute or modus operandi can assist as an easy reference for detectives and agents. Giving names to these outlaws is a surprisingly difficult task, as May told VF Daily earlier this year at a coffee shop near the 210 Freeway in Pasadena.

With more than a decade on the job, May says it can be a challenge to find the right name for a variety of reasons, but foremost: “I don't want to glorify them. I mean, for example, I'm not going to name one of them the Rock Star Bandit.”

A bank robber can occasionally charm the public—a John Dillinger who becomes a romanticized Robin Hood type, more hero than villain. In September 2012, during a high-speed pursuit following an armed bank robber in Santa Clarita, robbers threw fistfuls of stolen money out their car’s window. Bystanders flooded the street, trying to snatch a bill or two spinning in the air as the police whizzed by. Giving criminals like that a romantic name might feed approval. Any bank teller who has been involved in a takeover robbery knows there is nothing romantic about a gun being pointed at your head as a voice from a ski mask shouts for money. Today, the goal is to give a name that is both specific and neutral.

The Plain Jane Bandit., Courtesy of labankrobbers.org.

In addition to the F.B.I.’s fear of creating another bank-robber celebrity, the agency also worries about less ignominious celebrities. May recalls one bandit who was an undeniable Roseanne doppelganger. “I mean she looked exactly like her.” But shortly before branding her the Roseanne Bandit, the bureau’s media-relations department informed him of the high probability that they would be hearing from Barr’s lawyers. He settled for the Brunette Bandit.

If it's not a legal issue, it might just be a question of politeness. “I caught some heat for the Plain Jane Bandit,” says May. Said bandit made a splash by robbing or attempting to rob eight banks in three weeks. “I didn't even know that [name] could be perceived as offensive,” May says, “that's just how one of the [bank] tellers described her to me.” Apparently a robber's feelings need to be taken into consideration. According to May, the Irreconcilable Differences Bandit hated his name. “[The robber] would explain to the tellers that his wife was leaving him and he didn't have any other choice but to steal.” In the man’s defense, “Irreconcilable Differences Bandit” is a bit of a mouthful.

There are also the creative limitations. “There's really only so many names,” May says. In looking over the names of Los Angeles robbers, past and present, it can be difficult to tell them apart. There is the Gone Plaid Bandit, not to be confused with the Forever Plaid Bandit. The Geezer Bandit is not the Geriatric Bandit. Ditto to the Drifter Bandit and Hobo Bandit.

May often encounters co-workers on the force who offer their help title writing.

“I have detectives come to me begging to name a robber and I tell them, ‘O.K., here you go,’” he says. They all end up suffering from namer’s block. “Not so easy, is it?” May would say.

The Geezer Bandit., Courtesy of labankrobbers.org,

Sometimes, when things go right, an officer or agent working a case somewhere else might connect the dots between two separate crimes. “I had named this one robber the Four Buddies Bandit, because he was always threatening, ‘I have four buddies outside who will . . .’” says May. An L.A.P.D. detective working on a series of convenience-store robberies heard the bandit's name mentioned at a meeting. This detective was also pursuing a suspect who was telling the store employees he had four buddies outside. As a result, they were able to link their information together, which led to an arrest with a more comprehensive file of offenses.

Although the names may entertain, they prove to be necessary. What allows May to name all of these robbers is the sophisticated photo and video surveillance at every bank. There have been considerable enhancements in security-camera coverage of banks, and a correlation can be drawn between the improvements in surveillance methods and the drop in bank robberies. After every robbery, authorities have several photos of the bandit. This provides plenty of naming fodder—clothing, age, gender, weapon, etc. It also minimizes the dependency on witnesses, which has proven over the years to be an unreliable source for accurate descriptions.

The Grandma Bandit., Courtesy of labankrobbers.org

The banks used 35-mm-film still-photography cameras up until the late 1990s, and those cameras were not continuously clicking away. Obviously, banks didn't like being robbed, but they also didn't want to pay the cost that they would incur from the thousands of rolls of film used a year. Instead, the bank teller was advised to, in the event of a robbery, flip a switch that would activate the camera that would take a series of photographs (hopefully) of the perpetrator. Many tellers failed to flip the switch. Or they flipped the switch too late and all they got was the back of the criminal's head. The agent or detective assigned to the case wouldn't know the quality of the photos until they were developed, which was a whole other problem. It might be a week before the photos were developed and evaluated. Meanwhile, a vaguely identified, unnamed bandit could be anywhere.

Today, the average bank in Los Angeles may have more than 20 continuously running digital security cameras pointing at every angle. Now, when May is on his way to the scene of a crime, he will usually receive an e-mail with the photo of the perp from the security agency. May can check his smart phone and immediately know this was another heist by the Such-and-Such Bandit.

There is a challenge in giving the bandit an appealing enough name to garner widespread public recognition. Like all other branding, a good name is essential. When the photos from the crime are lousy, the description of the bandit is vague, and the given name may be off the mark. May points out: “Notice all the photos of the serial robbers who have not been apprehended, they're all bad. Might have something to do with them getting away.” But as the images get sharper, so does the crime solving. The vast improvement in surveillance technology and dissemination of information has led to a dramatic decrease in bank robberies. In other words: fewer robbers to name.